CPI Provides SWE-DISH with Solid-state Power Amps

CPI International Inc., the parent company of Communications and Power Industries Inc., a provider of microwave, radio frequency, power and control solutions for critical defense, communications, medical, scientific and other applications, has recently enjoyed excellent success providing a solid-state power amplifier to SWE-DISH Satellite Systems for use in the SWE-DISH® IPT Suitcase. CPI International (CPI) currently delivers large quantities of power amplifiers to SWE-DISH for use in its small, satellite terminals. The IPT Suitcase is a small broadband satellite terminal and is used for the transmission of video, data and voice content via satellite from remote or temporary sites anywhere in the world.

CPI, through its Communications and Medical Products division in Canada, currently has a two-year, multi-million dollar contract to provide high power, solid-state amplifiers for the IPT Suitcase. In the fall of 2005, SWE-DISH upgraded the amplifier in its small-sized satellite terminals for higher-power capability. The upgraded amplifier delivers 30 percent greater power and bandwidth, increasing the range of high bandwidth applications the IPT Suitcase can accommodate. CPI’s solid-state amplifier powers the latest versions of the IPT Suitcase, and can be retrofitted to work within older IPT Suitcase versions, allowing users to upgrade and increase the high bandwidth applications on their existing IPT Suitcases.

“CPI’s amplifiers have helped SWE-DISH meet our customers’ needs by providing a more powerful, more capable and more flexible amplifier for our SWE-DISH IPT Suitcase,” said Lars Jehrlander, chief executive officer of SWE-DISH. “The solid-state amplifiers that CPI has delivered have performed extremely well for us, and have contributed to the success of our product. The demand for our Suitcase family of satellite terminals has been very high, and we are using CPI’s amplifiers as quickly as they can be delivered.” The IPT Suitcase is widely used by broadcasters, governmental organizations and defense and rescue organizations, and hundreds of units have been sold to date.

“CPI is on pace to deliver significant volumes of solid-state amplifiers per year to SWE-DISH for use in the IPT Suitcase and for other products in the SWE-DISH portfolio, and we are thrilled to be part of the world’s most compact, quickest-to-air satellite system,” said Joe Caldarelli, chief executive officer of CPI. “This is one of our most significant contracts in this product area since we acquired a solid-state power amplifier business a few years ago, and we believe that CPI has a bright future in solid-state devices.”